GREEN BAY – No, that wasn't Aaron Rodgers standing the battlements of King's Landing as a member of the Lannister army prior to the last war of "Game of Thrones."
And no, the Packers quarterback wasn't the peasant burned alive in an alley by Daenerys and Drogon in the penultimate episode of the eighth and final season of the hit HBO show.
"I'm disappointed in every person who actually said that was me," said Rodgers with a smile at his locker following the first public practice of organized team activities Tuesday. "Because, if you watch that person run, they're a total non-athlete. Total non-athlete."
When asked if he was the man seen running from a tumbling bell tower behind Arya near the end of episode, Rodgers replied "sure" with a wry smile.
A longtime fan of the show, Rodgers arrived on set in Belfast, Ireland, around 6 a.m. local time and was one of two Americans in the sea of roughly 400 extras for the shoot with star Maisie Williams, who played Arya Stark.
While the two-time MVP quarterback is easy to spot in a crowd whenever in Wisconsin, Rodgers had full anonymity on set.
"In Belfast, they didn't care at all. They had no idea who I was," Rodgers said. "It was fun to be a part of it. I love the show. It's a fantastic show. A lot of great seasons."
Rodgers also was one of the 13 million who watched Sunday's series finale, "The Iron Throne," which has been met by some criticism this week for how the story concluded.
*Spoiler alert*
Like many, Rodgers wasn't satisfied with the decision to have Bran Stark on the Iron Throne after the death of Daenerys Targaryen and the imprisonment of Jon Snow, the two main protagonists of the 73-episode series. He didn't like the ending, and he explained why.
"No. I love the show and it was a great 10 years, but no," Rodgers said. "You come down to the end and Tyrion says the person with the best story is Bran? Who, by the way, three episodes ago said he wasn't Bran Stark anymore. No, Jon had a better story. Dany had a better story. Arya had a better story Sansa had a better story. Tyrion had a better story. Varys had a better story. Bronn, a lot better story. Jaime better story. Cersei, probably better stories. Any Baratheon better story."
So who does Rodgers believe should have won the "Game of Thrones"? Rodgers has a name and theory of why the show played out like it did.
"I think Dany should've been on the throne," Rodgers said. "Here's my last theory about it – if Bran, the three-eyed raven who is all about the health of the realm, he basically wanted the throne the whole time – because he's the one who told the Starks, knowing Sansa would tell Tyrion, knowing Tyrion would talk to Varys, knowing they'd scheme for Dany's death, knowing that would (tick) her off, which led her to be the mad queen.
"So he the entire time kind of set this whole thing up? And at the end he said I don't want to be King, but why did I travel this whole way to be here? No, look. I love the opportunity to be on the show, which most people don't think I was, but I was there. I love the show, but the writers are also doing 'Star Wars,' so I think they might have been a little busy this last season."
